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The Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium provides a forum for undergraduate students to present the research, scholarly, and creative work they have accomplished alongside faculty and graduate mentors throughout the academic year. These students are making significant contributions to real-world and cutting-edge issues of our time. Through their poster and oral presentations at the Research Symposium, undergraduates also learn to explain and connect their work to a general audience. The resulting shared learning and discussion—among faculty, staff, students, and community members—is a valuable experience for many students and guests at the event.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium showcases the diversity of undergraduate research, which spans all disciplines and addresses critical issues of our time. In 2011-12, more than 7,000 undergraduates participated in University-sponsored research, benefiting from the University’s resources as a research powerhouse, and contributing to solutions to critical societal problems. At this year’s Undergraduate Research Symposium, students will share their research on topics which relate to new methods for targeted DNA sequencing, improving waste management efficiency at the UW, translating athletes’ football intelligence to classroom success, cultivating a sustainable farm at a prison, creating an accurate, low-cost, paper-based test to diagnose infectious diseases such as malaria in developing countries, and producing a Native American comic book to share important information relating to cancer education, among many others.

Students often utilize, and sometimes discover, new talents as they approach challenging research questions. Elain Fu, a research assistant professor in bioengineering, mentors undergraduates in her lab. She says that one of her favorite things to see is when students begin to recognize their own talents and capabilities through their involvement in research—an empowering experience. Fu has also seen undergraduates make great contributions to her discipline. Speaking of one undergraduate in her lab, senior Tinny Liang, Fu says “She has not only contributed to the research in my lab, being a co-author on three papers and counting, but her enthusiasm for her work is infectious.”

Students often spearhead original research projects that allow them to pursue personally-relevant topics which build upon their strengths. Undergraduate Alex Catchings, a senior majoring in English, decided to delve into the subject of race and higher education. “My experience as an undergraduate researcher has crystallized my inherent interests in issues of race and higher education,” Catchings says. He says that UW programs like the Undergraduate Research Program, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students, and support from professors across the English and American Ethnic Studies Departments have supported him to continue these interests.

Distinguished speakers Regent Joanne Harrell, Head Football Coach Steve Sarkisian, and UAA Dean and Vice Provost Ed Taylor will address symposium participants and attendees in a brief welcome at 12:30 p.m. in the Mary Gates Hall Commons. The annual undergraduate research mentor awards, which recognize exceptional faculty and graduate student mentors to undergraduate researchers, will also be announced during the program.

The Symposium is organized by Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ Undergraduate Research Program, which facilitates research experiences for students in all academic disciplines. Symposium attendees are encouraged to search the online proceedings, locate the poster and oral presentation sessions that interest them, and create their own, personalized proceedings to navigate the Symposium. Visit exp.uw.edu/urp/symp/ to use this tool.

UW undergraduate Masooda Zarifi helps preschool children complete a fun alphabet maze activity.

At this year’s annual Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership, over 100 University of Washington undergraduates will share their involvement in transformative leadership and service activities. Fellow students, members of the community, and university faculty and staff are invited to attend the event and celebrate the inspirational work of students who have stepped up to improve our community and campus. The Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership will take place on May 7, 2013, from 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center on the UW Seattle campus.

UW undergraduates dedicate many hours to service and leadership activities in the community. In the 2011-12 school year alone, more than 5,900 UW students devoted an astounding 556,335 hours to public service through university sponsored activities. At the Spring Celebration, students will share their involvement in topics as varied as environmental sustainability, unemployment law, addiction treatment methods, early literacy, healthcare, and more.

While their service and leadership work varies, students who participate in these kinds of activities experience both short and long term benefits. Student involvement in public service has been shown to help students develop the critical thinking and practical skills that reinforce their learning in the classroom. “It’s not enough to focus only on the things you can learn from books or lectures,” says Déana Scipio, an instructor in the College of Education. “Students need hands-on experiences.”

Ric Robinson, a professor in the Department of Biological Structure, believes student involvement in leadership and service activities also advances students’ critical-thinking skills, vital to success in the workforce. Robinson mentors UW undergraduate Kayla Ritchie who publishes a quarterly student-run neuroscience journal called Grey Matters. “Kayla is already exhibiting and learning the day-to-day leadership and problem-solving skills necessary to make ambitious real world projects succeed,” he says. Ritchie and another student contributor will share their experiences at this year’s Spring Celebration.

The four university program co-hosts of the Spring Celebration—the Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, Jumpstart, the Pipeline Project, and the Mary Gates Endowment for Students—strive to foster just this kind of meaningful experience for undergraduates. Together these programs support students’ engagement with the community and advancement of their leadership and critical thinking skills. This year marks the 15- and 10-year anniversaries of the Pipeline Project and Jumpstart. Together these two programs have supported over 12,000 undergraduates to thoughtfully engage with schoolchildren and the critical issues that impact the preschool and K-12 education systems.

UW alum Gloria Johnston was one such student. As an undergraduate she devoted hundreds of hours to participating in Jumpstart, an early literacy program that connects college students as tutors and mentors with preschool children from low-income communities. “My Jumpstart experience was the foundation for my interest in direct service and community involvement,” she says. At the Spring Celebration, Johnston will join UW alum Solmaz Mohadjer, former Pipeline Project volunteer, to share the enduring impact of their undergraduate service experiences.

The Spring Celebration will begin with a gallery of student poster presentations on service and leadership. After the gallery presentations Ed Taylor, dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, will open a short program and author, educator, and civic entrepreneur Eric Liu will discuss the impact of students’ service and leadership on our community. The program will also recognize this year’s Edward E. Carlson Leadership Awardee, Yuriana Garcia, for her trailblazing efforts to educate undocumented students about options to pay for college. After the program, and for the first time in Spring Celebration history, over 40 student presenters will share their stories and converse with event attendees in collaborative, small group “breakout sessions.”

Event Details

WHEN:         May 7, 2013, 3:00-5:30 p.m.

WHERE:       Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center (ECC), UW Seattle campus

EVENT SCHEDULE:
3:00 p.m.      Gallery of Student Projects

Sample topics include:

• Bridging the Gap: Business and Healthcare
• Drugs, Addiction and the Brain: Biology Education in King County Jail and Monroe Prison
• Reaching Every Student: Saturation Sustainability in Greater Seattle Area Schools
• UW Formula Motorsports: Building Engineers by Building Racecars

4:15 p.m.      Program honoring UW Student Engagement

4:45 p.m.      Collaborative Small Group “Breakout Sessions”

Breakout Sessions will center on the themes of:

• Civic Engagement: Students who participated in Citizen University, a conference on the art of Great Citizenship, share their learning on what it means to be an engaged citizen.
• Leadership: Students in the Husky Leadership Initiative certificate program share their leadership philosophy and how they developed it.
• Educational Equity: Students engaged in service and leadership around issues of educational equity share their efforts “Pecha Kucha” style.

Participants can talk with colleagues who are actively engaged in examining teaching and learning in their disciplines. Over 60 faculty, staff, and graduate students from 35+ departments and units are presenting 38 posters. The keynote panel will be “Technology for Innovative Teaching: From F2F to MOOCs”.

Details

• Tuesday April 16, 2013, 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
• HUB Lyceum (Room 160)

Symposium Schedule

2:00 p.m.       

Welcome: Provost Ana Mari Cauce

2:15 p.m.    

Poster Session #1

3:00 p.m.

Keynote Panel Discission: “Technology for Innovative Teaching: From F2F to MOOCs”

Panelists:

• Lekelia (Kiki) Jenkins, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
• Hedwige Meyer, French and Italian Studies
• Stuart Reges, Computer Science and Engineering
• Eric Zivot, Economics

3:45 p.m. 

Poster Session #2

Visit this link for the full program, as well as video clips from past symposia.

No registration or RSVP is required.

Symposium Sponsors:

• Center for Teaching and Learning
• Office of the Provost
• Graduate School
• Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity
• Simpson Center for the Humanities
• Teaching and Learning Center, UW-Bothell
• Teaching and Learning Center, UW-Tacoma
• Undergraduate Academic Affairs
• UW Information Technology
• UW Libraries
• The Kenneth S. and Faye G. Allen Endowed Library Fund

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the call for nominations for the fifteenth annual Undergraduate Academic Affairs Recognitions Awards. This year’s recognition event will be held on Tuesday, June 11, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the Walker Ames room, Kane Hall.

Each year at our recognition event, we bring our attention to, congratulate, and thank each other for our efforts and accomplishments that make the undergraduate experience ever more dynamic and enriched. From student employees who are often on the front lines representing our work to those who are our unsung heroes, you each make a vital contribution to the collective mission of UAA and contribute to fulfilling our promise to students and their families.

I find these nominations particularly meaningful because they come from colleagues recognizing and thereby thanking one another for making an extra effort toward excellence. Please take a few moments and nominate your colleagues for their achievements—it can be to congratulate a person or group for a recent accomplishment or an individual for his or her sustained excellence.

The awards categories are:

2013 Award for Excellence
2013 Outstanding Achievement Award
2013 Outstanding Student Employee Award

In the past fifteen years, more than 100 UAA employees or teams have received recognition awards representing all units within Undergraduate Academic Affairs showing the breadth and depth of our commitment to students.

The awards criteria, nomination process, and list of past award recipients may be found here. Nominations may be submitted via this Catalyst dropbox.

The deadline for nominations is: 5 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2013. Please send questions to ugrad@uw.edu.

I look forward to seeing you on June 11!

Sincerely,

Ed Taylor
Vice Provost and Dean

All nominations must be received by 5 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2013.

Undergraduate Academic Affairs Mission

Undergraduate Academic Affairs shapes, advances, and stewards a world-class undergraduate academic experience for students at the University of Washington. We deepen and enrich the learning experience for all undergraduates, recognizing and supporting the unique learning path of each individual student and the commitment of each academic program to excellence in teaching and learning.

Our vision is to enhance and invigorate the undergraduate experience at the University of Washington. By reaching across campus and into the community, we build partnerships that are recognized as national models, creating transformational opportunities for students of all backgrounds. We cultivate academic engagement through mentorships, learning communities, service and research experiences, cutting-edge classrooms, and new paths to learning for both students and faculty. Excitement and passion drive our work.

Awards and Nomination Process

• Awards nominations may be submitted to this Catalyst dropbox.

2013 Award for Excellence

The 2013 Award for Excellence will be presented to an individual who throughout his or her tenure in Undergraduate Academic Affairs and at the UW exemplifies UAA’s and the UW’s values and mission in his or her work. Eligible individuals include all permanent faculty and staff who are currently employed in an Undergraduate Academic Affairs unit.

Nomination letters may be up to two pages in length and must include at least one (but no more than three) supporting letters endorsing the nomination. Staff may only receive this award once in their tenure at Undergraduate Academic Affairs. A list of previous recipients is here. Questions regarding an individual’s eligibility for this award may be sent to: ugrad@uw.edu

Please compile your nomination materials for this award into a single pdf document and upload it to the 2013 Award for Excellence assignment in this Catalyst dropbox. If you are submitting multiple nominations, upload one pdf document for each person.

2013 Outstanding Achievement Award

The 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award will be presented to individuals or teams who make outstanding contributions to the work of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. The award will honor a particular accomplishment, project or contribution made during the previous three years. Eligible individuals include all permanent or temporary faculty and staff who are currently employed in an Undergraduate Academic Affairs unit.

A one-page letter of nomination should be submitted citing specific examples of the employee’s or team’s achievements.

Upload your nomination for this award to the 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award assignment in this Catalyst dropbox. If you are submitting multiple nominations, upload one pdf document for each nomination.

2013 Outstanding Student Employee Award

The 2013 Outstanding Student Employee Award will be presented to student employees who have made an outstanding contribution to the work of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Eligible students must be currently employed in an Undergraduate Academic Affairs unit.

A one-page letter should be submitted citing specific examples of the student employee’s achievements.

Please upload a single pdf document to the 2013 Outstanding Student Employee Award assignment in this Catalyst dropbox. If you are nominating multiple people, submit one pdf document for each person.

All nominations must be received by 5 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2012.

UAA Recognition Award Recipients, 1999-2012

Genevieve (Gennie) Gebhart is the UW’s most recent Luce Scholar.

Genevieve (Gennie) Gebhart, a senior Honors student majoring in international studies and economics, was recently selected as a 2013-14 Luce Scholar. A graduate of Mercer Island High School, Gebhart is one of 18 students nationwide to receive this scholarship this year.

The University of Washington is one of two Pac-12 institutions with a Luce Scholar this year.

The Luce Scholars Program is a major national scholarship awarded to fewer than 20 students each year. More than 160 candidates were nominated by 75 colleges and universities this year. The program is designed to raise awareness of Asia among young American leaders and funds a stipend, language training, and places scholars in professional worksites in Asia. A unique element of the Luce Scholars Program is that the foundation seeks students with little to no experience in and of Asia. Students who have had broad experience in Asia or who are majoring in Asian studies, for example, are ineligible for the scholarship.

Though she isn’t new to international travel (and was in Rome when she learned about her selection), Gebhart wrote by email that “Asia is the area of the world about which I know the least. I hope to gain some insight into Asia in general and my country of placement in particular, and [I] feel lucky to be able to do it with the support of the Luce Foundation’s experience, expertise, and infrastructure.”

As an undergraduate, Gebhart’s accomplishments extend well beyond the classroom and include research projects and leadership accomplishments. She has been on the Dean’s list every quarter since entering the UW in 2009; earned a Mary Gates Research Scholarship to research eating disorders, family dynamics and film in southern Italy; received Mary Gates Leadership Scholarships for her work developing the women’s program of the Husky Cycling Club and then serving as the club’s president; was the youngest-ever recipient of the UW Libraries Research Award for Undergraduates; and was selected for several additional scholarships. As if that weren’t enough, Gebhart is also a vocalist on the Grammy-nominated recording of “The Shoe Bird” with the Seattle Symphony.

Gebhart’s interests have led her on a multidisciplinary path culminating in a plan to pursue international librarianship and address issues of information access. She wrote, “My multidisciplinary education has been one big string of surprises. I never could have predicted that I would be involved in economics, or film studies, or library sciences—and, I never could have predicted that I would be doing those things all at once! My education at UW has made me more open to different fields and ways of doing things, and it’s made me more perceptive of unexpected connections among all those fields. For something like information sciences, this is invaluable—what librarians do is so multidisciplinary and requires so much intellectual flexibility.

“Information access takes a different shape in every nation and every community,” writes Gebhart, “but in the end it comes down to a balance between literacy, distribution, and policy. I see my role as figuring out how to optimize these three elements, something that I think is impossible without public engagement and advocacy at every level. So, I think I can make the greatest contribution in clarifying and communicating the urgency of information issues to non-academic and non-professional audiences. We’ve got these buzz words like ‘open access,’ ‘information justice,’ and ‘information commons’ floating around, but the connections between them are new, counterintuitive, and not yet well understood.”

Gebhart’s interest in libraries was inspired in part and wholly supported by her work in UW’s library system. “It’s the people I get to work with that have really role-modeled for me the many ways in which a librarian can be a force for the greater good,” she notes.

After her term as a Luce Scholar, Gebhart is considering graduate school but also wants to be open to opportunities that may present themselves while in Asia. Ultimately, though, “I see myself following a path that sticks to what I think is at the heart of librarianship, regardless of how technology and resources change. It’s about how about how people express, record, and narrate their experiences, and how available information can shape communities and the people in them. I hope to look back one day and be able to say that everything I’ve done has been in service to those greater ideas, to using information for public good.”

In addition to her academic pursuits, Gebhart enjoys creative writing, swimming, hiking, and is studying Italian, French, and Latin.

Read a Q & A with Gebhart here.

Learn more about undergraduate opportunities to earn national scholarships.

Learn more about the Luce Scholars Program.

Why did you apply for the Luce Scholarship?

I knew that I wanted to take time to travel after graduation, and I knew that I wanted to do something with libraries outside the US. I was especially drawn to the Luce because of the incredible amount of personal attention and support the program offers—the Luce Scholars Program works to find individual job placements for every scholar, and continues to support scholars with language training and periodic group meetings throughout the year.

What do you hope to learn through the Luce program? 

I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of international travel, and Asia is the area of the world about which I know the least. I hope to gain some insight into Asia in general and my country of placement in particular, and feel lucky to be able to do it with the support of the Luce Foundation’s experience, expertise, and infrastructure.

Do you know where you’ll be going? Where do you hope to go and why?

I’m still in the middle of the placement process, so I can’t say for sure yet. This is a great chance, however, to give the Luce Scholars Program huge thanks and praise for their placement process—their support has been remarkable.

Your bio for the Luce scholarship says, “Gennie hopes to enter the global open access debate armed with international experience, a multidisciplinary education, and constant mindfulness of the vital human side of digital information technology.” What do you imagine you’ll do in the “global access debate”?

Information access takes a different shape in every nation and every community, but in the end it comes down to a balance between literacy, distribution, and policy. I see my role as figuring out how to optimize these three elements, something that I think is impossible without public engagement and advocacy at every level. So, I think I can make the greatest contribution in clarifying and communicating the urgency of information issues to non-academic and non-professional audiences. We’ve got these buzz words like “open access,” “information justice,” and “information commons” floating around, but the connections between them are new, counterintuitive, and not yet well understood.

What is it about a multidisciplinary education that you’ve found valuable? How have your academic experiences shaped who you are as a thinker and doer?

My multidisciplinary education has been one big string of surprises. I never could have predicted that I would be involved in economics, or film studies, or library sciences – and, I never could have predicted that I would be doing those things all at once! My education at UW has made me more open to different fields and ways of doing things, and it’s made me more perceptive of unexpected connections among all those fields. For something like information sciences, this is invaluable – what librarians do is so multidisciplinary and requires so much intellectual flexibility.

You have a long and varied list of accomplishments and interests. How do you see them relating to one another, and what are you most proud of and why?

Looking back, I can see that the each of the things I have been drawn to do has held the seeds of this interest in information sciences. For example, in journalism and publishing, I got to explore free speech and a professional’s ethical responsibility to making information available to the public; in environmental economics, I have discovered models for the management and distribution of public resources, whether they be tangible ecological resources or digital information resources; and in international studies, I have been pushed to pursue lines of cross-cultural inquiry to surprising conclusions. Somehow, they have all connected to and informed the work I want to do in international librarianship.

How have you grown as a leader in your time at the UW?

I have been a member of the Husky Cycling Club since my first day at UW, and the club has defined my undergraduate experience. After having the opportunity to lead the club as president, I have learned that you don’t need to be the most skilled member of the group to be a leader. I am definitely not the fastest bike rider in the bunch, but Husky Cycling has been so special because you don’t need to be a fast or talented or exceptional cyclist in any way to be a valuable part of the group. Instead it is all about initiative and community and creative opportunities for one another. Elite athletes and curious beginners come together on Husky Cycling because we just like riding bikes, and the profound results of that simple feeling–from group cohesion to competitive success to community service–continue to amaze me.

What kind of leadership do you think the world needs and how of you hope to develop as a leader as a result of this scholarship?

We can never have enough of the kind of leaders who thrive in helping others discover and understand what they’re capable of. This scholarship is giving me a chance to get involved in projects that come down to that same leadership principle: using information, and access to information, to enhance people’s and communities’ capacity for self-realization and self-determination.

What was it about your work in Odegaard that led to these interests? Was there a particular experience whereby that experienced transformed from work to passion?

I can’t say enough about how my mentors at Odegaard – as well as in other parts of the UW Libraries like the Media Center, Suzzallo, and administration – have inspired and supported me. Work and projects in different parts of the UW Libraries have stimulated me and allowed me to learn more about day-to-day operations in such a massive library system, but it’s the people I get to work with that have really role-modeled for me the many ways in which a librarian can be a force for the greater good.

What do you see yourself doing after graduation and after your Luce experience?

Different travel/research fellowships are on my mind, as is grad school – but anything could happen during this next year, so I want to stay open to that, too. Right now, though, all my efforts right now are on selecting where I’m going to go as a Luce Scholar and preparing for that experience.

Project ahead—way ahead—and imagine you’re at your retirement party. From what are you retiring and what do you hope people will say about your life’s work? Is there anything else you’d like to add?

The technology and methods and goals are all changing so fast that it’s hard to predict what my job description will be in 40, 20, or even 5 years. That’s one of the things I like most about this field – how dynamic it is. I see myself following a path, though, that sticks to what I think is at the heart of librarianship, regardless of how technology and resources change. It’s about how people express, record, and narrate their experiences, and how available information can shape communities and the people in them. I hope to look back one day and be able to say that everything I’ve done has been in service to those greater ideas, to using information for public good

 Inside the Undergraduate Teaching Experience

 A celebration of the book about the UW Growth in Faculty Teaching Study
with authors Catharine Beyer, Ed Taylor, and Jerry Gillmore

February 25, 2013
Doors open at 2:30 p.m., presentation at 2:45 p.m.
Reception to follow

Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall
Register here

“…sometimes I think my teaching career is like Groundhog Day, the movie—I have to keep doing this over and over until I get it right…”
—UW GIFTS participant, faculty member in the sciences/math

“This book captures the voices of faculty engaged in the classroom in a fashion that I have not seen before. In the midst of a cacophony of works denouncing the professoriate as insensitive to problems of student learning (generally with little evidence), this study offers a glimpse into the real attitudes of a large group of instructors.”

—David Pace, coeditor of Decoding the Disciplines: Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking

The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation contact Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206-543-6450/V, 206-543-6452/TTY, 206-685-7264 (FAX), or e-mail dso@uw.edu.

Tony Grob

Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor

I crave the sound of a call and response—the verbal and non-verbal interaction between a speaker and listener—that is endemic to democratic participation in public matters; the kind of call that allows us to acknowledge misfortune, ruination, or loss, followed by a response proclaiming that freedom and justice are close at hand. It’s a reminder that we have reason to be hopeful.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a eulogy for Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson, the four children killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing on Sunday, September 15, 1963. King’s message is time honored, foretelling, and tragically predictive that we would not see the last of violence, suffering, and sorrow.

In the tradition of so many spirituals, King called the faithful to bear witness to ineffable sadness and in doing so, reminds us of our ultimate calling:

These children—unoffending, innocent, and beautiful—were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death….They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.

In the tradition of the spirituals that allow us to move from suffering to hope, King calls on our redemptive spirit:

And so my friends, they did not die in vain….The death of these little children may lead our whole Southland from the low road of man’s inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood. These tragic deaths may lead our nation to substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color. The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience.

The leader’s voice calls for a response that summons justice and human worth. And while we often want to hear King invoke the view from the mountaintop, he reminds us of the reality that the journey up there means that we have to walk through the darkness and through the shadows so that we come to see certain truths:

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.

Negro spirituals are a stunning and beautiful expression of humanity. They can be anthems that transcend a given moment and feed the aspirations and desires of the human soul. King began his sermon by calling attention to the tragedy. He ends by invoking the promise of a new day. And as with so many spirituals, so many of King’s sermons—we, the congregation, have the opportunity to respond. In the words of King:

Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters.

You gave to this world wonderful children. They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, they died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare: Good night, sweet princesses. Good night, those who symbolize a new day. And may the flight of angels take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you.